Topic: Use of Social Media in Saudi Public Sector.

 

Literature Review

 

1. Introduction:

To develop a hypothetical framework is the main objective of this literature review. It will assist to understand the main concept of this study which is to evaluate the effectiveness of the social media in the public sector of Saudi Arabia.

 

Generally government disburses information to the general people through Public Information model. It model represents the one way communication system where government provides the accurate and correct information to the general public. In the recent years due to the innovation of technological advantages the patterns of the public relations have been changed a lot. Especially now it is possible to disburse the information to every single individual due to the innovation of internet. According to Tench and Yeomans (2009) at present using internet as a medium of communication has become a common scenario.

 

2. Government:

2.1 Communication:

According to Leadingham (2001) it is very important for the government to have a continuous communication with the general people. Scott (2007) has also mentioned that the main objective of the government is not only to establish a long lasting relationship with the general people but also carrying its official activities through its professional employees.   In the present time it is the most important activities of the government to have a continuous communication with the general people. There have seven important aspects that have been suggested by Gunelius (2011) which should be considered in order to establish a strong public relationship.

 

Gunelius (2011) proposed that in order to establish a strong public relationship the government should establish a centre network system where the general people can access very easily at any time. There should also be an instant feedback system that will satisfy the citizens. He also suggested that efficient employees are precondition of the network system that will help the government to establish the desire relationship. According to Karian & Box (2007) government has to understand the importance of public relations and need to recover the challenges that may be arisen at the time of establishing the relationship with the citizens. Government should take the initiative for developing the framework for the implementation of social media as it will help the government to establish a strong relationship with the citizens.

 

The centrally established organization should use some efficient tools for building a strong relationship (Gunelius, 2011). It is also very important for the organization to use the sophisticated technological systems in order to ensure the efficiency of the organization (Andrewes, 2006) and it will be done by the efficient employees of the organization. According to Bentivegna (2002) advance technology will help the government to disseminate the information to a large number of groups at a time. He also mentioned that it would also not be a problem even if the targeted groups are staying beyond the geographical locations. It is also needed to mention that now-a-days social media is considered as an important forum of collecting and disbursing required data.

 

2.2 Social Media

As the definition of social media has been given by many authors so some inconsistencies has found among those definitions. Ignoring this inconsistency the term represents some actions or tools that it carries out or forms for using. Constantinides and Fountain’s (2008) described this term as something that assists to put forward in their Web 2.0: Conceptual Foundations and Marketing Issues. The literature review has been done based on this definition. To make this concept clear they have been divided the term into the following five categories:

1. Social Networks (e.g. Myspace, Facebook)
2. Content Communities (e.g. Flickr, Youtube)
3. Podcasts or Blogs (e.g. Huffington Post , Blogger)
4. Bulletin or Forums boards (e.g. Twitter)
5. Content Aggregators (e.g. Wikipedia)

 

This definition has been chosen for this literature review due to its simplicity and clearness. Moreover there is a consistency between the nature and flexibility of this definition and the study.

 

The establishment of two Symmetrical communications has become easier due to the responsiveness and adaptability nature of social media. It creates an opportunity for the practitioners who are interested in public relations. Two communication models have also been formed by Gregory and Fawkes (2000) depends on the concept of internet based communication. The names of those two models are Transmissive System and Participative System. The first one represents the direct ways of transmitting ideas and information. The later one represents the process of general communication.

 

The significance of internet has been described in participative system by Gregory and Fawkes (2000). Communication via Internet can be classified under transmissive system based on the procedure of disseminating information. But the innovation of social media has added a new dimension to communication system. The modern two-way Symmetrical communications were not possible before the innovation of the tools of social media. According to McQuail (2005) now communication is possible beyond spatial and physical boundaries and it becomes possible due to the sophisticated nature of social media.

 

According to Li and Bernoff (2008) this communication system is considered as ‘disembedding mechanisms’ which has the power to interfere in social relations by saving time and making the distance shorter. He also mentioned that the disembedding mechanisms have restructured the spatial and temporal boundaries. This system not only facilitates to communicate with a greater amount of people at a time but also assists the government or citizens to communicate with every single individual at any time from any place. The mass communication system that has become possible through the innovation of social media makes the world smaller than before.

 

3. Habermas’s Public Sphere:

Habermas, a German philosopher has formed the concept “Public Sphere”. According to Habermas (1989) it can be defined as a communicative platform where individuals can join to provide their opinion on an on-going conversation. He also mentioned that individuals can share their opinion beyond the political and social scope rather than in a mutual way. It has also been proved by Habermas (1989) that public sphere acts as an arbitrage between the public authority sphere and private sphere.

 

Habermas’s opinion has been criticized by many authors. As a result in order to clear the importance of public sphere more obvious Habermas (1989) has developed a new analytical model that has been formed with the combination of various different spaces and then classified them into three groups namely interactional, representational and structural.

 

 

 

The three dimensions that have been classified by Habermas (1989) will be explained with the reference of internet. The formation of communicative space is generally happened under the stage of structural dimension. According to Dahlgren (2005) the accessibility of general citizens can be affected by the concept of Cyber-Geography which is developed with the combination of political, social and technical factors. Some argue that there has a possibility of information manipulation in case of social media based communication due to its adaptability features and this is the concept of representational dimension. Interactional dimension represents the interaction that has been taken place between the general people and the news of the media. Therefore Public Sphere is very important to make the public interaction online. The representation and interaction facilities make the internet based communication most popular because it helps civic to have a regular interaction with government Peter Dahlgren (2005).

 

Some authors argues that the concept of two way communication with general citizens do not exist in social media as the lion share of opinion has been hold by the powerful users. It has been found that the regular and constant users who are constantly input their data in social media such as tweets-blog posts-vlogs can obtain more following and can transformed themselves as a opinion leaders.

 

3.1 The Future of Public Sphere:

According to Dijk (1999) contemporary concept of public sphere has faded out the previously discussed three dimension of public sphere. The more the advancement of the technology, the more updated concept about public spare would be derived.   The difference between the private sphere and public authority sphere has become smaller. Now a great number of people have their access to the social media and now they are also providing their opinion or at least participate in the conversation of on-going issues. So if the participation of mass people is increased day by day then the difference will be declined between powerful users and light users. It has become easier for the general civic to participate in politics or media through social media compared with reality.

 

 

 

 

The potentiality and advantages have also been mentioned by Fernback and Thompson (1995). He has mentioned that virtual communication provides more access to the general people, even in case of strong communication among them. The complexity of social media compared with the publication has also described by Friedland (1999). It has been also mentioned by Friedland, (1999) that it is easier to bring a revolution in public relations through social media by considering the communities as social capital networks.

 

4. The Governments Usage and Challenges of Social Media:

By adopting the facilities of social media government can change the traditional system for disseminating information among general people. According to L’Etang, (2004) it also helps to establish a regular based communication between the government and the stakeholders. Weinberg (2009) has also mentioned that since general people can share their ideas with government so it becomes very convenient for the government to make civic oriented policy. It is very important in case of democratic country where the general people’s opinion and views are very critical for the government to operate the country.

 

The home page of coast guard in USA can be considered as the way of direct communication between government and general people where the link of familiar social media has been included for instance Twitter, Facebook etc. The link of the channel that has been formed for the dedication of mass people has been also included in there. As a result it will be more convenient to access into those social media and gather required information and inform the civic if there have any update related with the service. This system is not only followed by the democratic government but also by other governments such as United Kingdom (L’Etang, 2004). In UK the social media is also used for two-way symmetric communication where the government collects the primary information from the mass people before taking any core decision (L’Etang, 2004).

 

A study titled ‘Asian Government Usage of web 2.0 Social Media’ was conducted by Kuzma and she found that some of the governments are still conscious about the using of social media for collecting and disseminating information even after considering its advantages. In case of using social media government is now very aware of about the censorship. For example Saudi Arabia is very conscious about the censorship of the internet based communication (Edwards, 2009).

 

The security and privacy is considered as another important term for which the government is reluctant to use social media. There is a chance to divulge the confidential information which may lead a bad situation. It has been recognized the main problem for which government is not interested to use the social media as a medium of exchanging information (Yeomans and Tench, 2006). There has been another problem regarding with the use of social media. When social media will be used as a medium of exchanging all types of official information, it may lead the employee’s not to perform their job sincerely rather than being busy with the social media for their personal communication.

 

5. Conclusion:

Still now Social media doesn’t able to ensure the equal involvement of all the participants (Anderson and Cornfield, 2003). There have many people who do not have enough knowledge about the using of social media; even some of them do not have internet connection to access into virtual world. Moreover there hasn’t any way to evaluate the accuracy of the information that has been presented by the civics through social media. These problems are considered the main hindrance for the government to use the social media for official purpose. Moreover regular maintenance and monitoring system may lead to cause a huge expense for the government. Due to the above problem some of the government do not think that social media is an important medium for official communication.

 

References:

Anderson, D. M., & Cornfield, M. (2003). The civic web: Online politics and democratic values. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield.

 

Andrewes, J. (2006). Developing an online press office for Cardiff Council: Principles of excellence. Journal of Communication Management, p.156-173.

 

Bentivegna, S. (2002). Politics and the new media. In L, Lievrouw, and S, Livingstone. Handbook of New Media. London: Sage.

 

Constantinides, E. & Fountain, S.J. (2008). Web 2.0: Conceptual foundations and marketing issues, Journal of Direct Data and Digital Marketing Practice, p.231-24.

 

Dahlgren, P. (1995). Television and the public sphere: Citizenship, democracy, and the media. London: Sage.

 

Dijk, J. V. (1999). The Network Society, Social aspects of the new media. London: Sage Publications.

 

Edwards, L. (2009). Public relations theory: an overview. In: Tench, R & Yeomans, L, Exploring Public Relations, p.149-17, Prentice Hall: Harlow.

 

Fawkes, J. and Gregory, A. (2000). Applying communication theories to the Internet, Journal of Communication Management, p. 109-124.

 

Fernback, J. & Thompson, B. (1995). Virtual Communities: Abort, Retry, Failure? Available online at: http://www.well.com/user/hlr/texts/VCcivil.html, Accessed on: 10 April 2015

 

Friedland, L. (1999). Electroonic Democracy and the New Citizen. Media, Society and Culture, London: Sage.

 

Gunelius, S. (2011), 30 Minute Social Media Marketing, USA, McGraw Hills Companies

 

Habermas, J. (1989). The structural transformation of the public sphere. Boston: MIT Press.

 

Karian & Box (2007). LG07 Study 2007: A comprehensive view of local government communications today. Available at: http://www.karianandbox.com/resources.php, Accessed on: 10 April 2015

 

L’Etang, J. (2004). Public Relations in Britain: A History of Professional Practice in the Twentieth Century. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

 

Ledingham, J. A., (2001) Government-community relationships: extending the relational theory of public relations, Public Relations Review, 27: 285–295

 

Li, C. & Bernoff, J. (2008). Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.

 

McQuail, D. (1983). Mass communication theory: An introduction. London: Sage.

 

Scott, D. M., (2007), The new rules of Marketing and PR: How to use social media, blogs, news releases, online video, and viral marketing to reach buyers directly, 1^st ed., New Jersey, John Wiley and Sons

 

Tench, R. and Yeomans, L., (2009), Exploring Public Relations, 2^nd ed., England, Pearson Education Limited

 

Weinberg, T. (2009). The New Community Rules: Marketing On the Social Web. Sebastopol: O’Reilly.

 

Yeomans, L. and Tench, R. (2006). Exploring Public Relations. Prentice Hall: London

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Title: Marketing through Social Network and Its outcome on customer Behaviour

 

Literature Review:

1. Introduction:

Social Network Marketing can be termed as a cost-effective advertising option for marketers. According to the findings of O’Neil, (2009) an advertiser can get in touch with diverse cultures without costing millions in social media marketing. In fact, the customers themselves play the role of the distributors which eventually save a great deal of money and participate in wireless initiative and activities which attains the trust of customer through another customer. Marketers should not act as the presenters rather they should be the originator of construction communities amongst the consumers (Webber, 2009). Simultaneously they require arranging, persuading and engaging social networking which is greatly admired to the public.

 

2. Social Network Marketing Potentiality:

According to Williamson (2006) several markets anticipated proficient prospects of marketing through social networking sites and they are willing to engage in this type of marketing. Though several social marketing promotions have been proved to be virtually flourishing but numerous marketers are not utilizing their assets appropriately rather they are mixing their brand value with such a marketing that is not appropriate enough to signify the requirements of their customers. There are numerous arguments and misunderstandings regarding this potential and exclusive idea of SNM (Social Network Marketing) concerning the execution of this concept to obtain the trust of the virtual customers and initiating a powerful promotion through social network marketing. However, marketers have to understand the reality that internet based marketing via social networking site will be different from the conventional marketing systems.

 

Amusingly there are millions of people who are exclusively depended on social networking sites to make their employment and businessmen can target these types of individuals (Chin, 2008). Social network marketing is helping the marketers with the expertise to manage hyper objective promotions by means of using profile information, connecting to community members friend lists, and tactically fostering online marketing amongst the existing consumer (Rahman, 2009). Papworth (2009) suggested that hyper objective marketers mark member groups considering their demographic and psychographic details such as age, workplace, gender, hobbies, education, interest, etc. Hyper objective permits advertisers to provide additional attempt to definite member groups who will possibly purchase the goods and assist make the marketing more suitable for the persons watching the advertisement in the social media.

 

Nonetheless, advertisers should constantly remember that most of the positive alteration took place in social networks are the consequences of Internet and the availability of a variety of websites to the consumers. Internet is thought to be the dependable source of information and customers can have the benefit of the appropriate accessibility of information through Internet regarding different goods and services (Bandyopadhya, 2001). As the circumstances is changing all the time, marketers have to rely on all sorts of broadcasting options including radio, television, direct mail, print media, direct selling, open-air advertising, and online marketing for drawing the attention of the bulk of the customer to create optimistic and powerful brand value.

Nevertheless, all the above mentioned media are slowly losing their drive. The reason for this deterioration is the vast quantity of advertiser and marketers who stay busy in compelling the customers to purchase their goods. At this instant, one fact is practically obvious that famous media cannot entirely ensure the attainment of the majority of the consumer. There should have constant communication and contact with the consumer from the advertisers to sustain a regular business from the consumer. Consequently, customers should be brought closer brand value very frequently so that their awareness can be maintained.

 

At this momentum, the most vital particulars are the forceful development of Social Network marketing and the enormous number of prospects in this marketplace for businessmen to invest.

According to Oak (2008) with the help of Social Networking sites public can form virtual group of friend for meeting, communicating, and sharing views without any cost.Traditional businesses like Pizza Hut and Red Bull Energy drink have begun to enjoy the advantageous features by now by engaging in social networking world through their individual application platform. For instance, Pizza Hut formed a page which will allow Facebook users ordering pizza delivery to home through Facebook without any botheration. Alternatively, according to Miller (2008) Red Bull energy drink has a website connected with the Facebook for allowing the individuals to connect with their friends in Facebook and share contents, photos, videos, and blog view etc.

 

While marketing via social network was not accessible marketers had to display the similar advertisement to all the members of a website and it was not possible to demonstrate dissimilar ads to diverse customer groups. Those marketing policy was not cost effective because advertisements were seen by people who were not the right individual for the goods from the context of self interests, gender, age, religion, marital status etc. According to Miller (2008) on the other hand, Social Network marketing currently have turned out to be a powerful and innovative marketing technique that allows marketers attain newer expertise and manage hyper target campaigns by the accessible profile details from the community members which permit them to execute social networking with groups, friends, and spread the advertisements as memos through words of mouth amongst the existing consumers. By means of Hyper Targeting advertisers attempt to determine the most possible consumer and overlook those who look like to having extremely slight possibility of purchasing their goods or services.

 

2.2. Facebook in Social Network Marketing: FaceBook is the leading social networking online tool and as an advertising tool the fame of Facebook among the businessmen is extremely high for the reason that most of the existing companies and business have devoted to the Facebook and utilize Facebook page as their efficient marketing device. Facebook is not a straightforward website rather it obtained its market position as the 4th leading website within world (Statista, 2015). Moreover, It disclosed that the totality of Facebook user is much higher than 1400 million currently (Statista, 2015).

 

Figure 1: Network growth of FaceBook user in the first quarter of 2015, Source: Statista (2015)

 

For marketing through word-of-mouth and combining groups and increasing members in the similar business segment to spread the information regarding product and company outline Facebook is identified as an effective tool. According to Miller (2008) Director of Monetization,

Tim Kendall stated on Facebook that advertise on Facebook do not look like advertisements as they are initiated from friends. Currently there is system in Facebook for advertisement which can be exercised by the users to advise a specific goods or service to their friends. Webber (2009) stated that such actions have been occupied to locate and reach the particular target market and communicate with the genuine customer of a specific business goods or service. More accurately Facebook using has been turned out to be really appropriate as the advertisements can be broadcasted flawlessly to the exact target markets in the context of age, product qualities and locations.

 

MySpace.com (2009) revealed that with the help of Hyper Targeting advertisers aim at just those customers whose profiles matches with demographic and physiographic aspects such as gender, education, age, workplace, matches interest, hobbies with their goods and services. Consequently, Figure 2 represents hat advertisers frequently exercise this type of Hyper Targeting to identify those customers who are more probable to buy of their goods and make their goods more appropriate for the persons whose profile is similar to their attributes.

Figure 2: Hypertargeting illustration. Source: Grifantini and Urstadt (2008)

 

Nonetheless, most of the marketers and most significantly the researchers believe that Social Network Marketing will be flourishing only if the social networking sites act as communication media to generate and retain gainful relationships without classifying all the customers in the identical section. According to Nielsen (2009) there should be a discussion provision between the advertisers and the consumers besides the push message service alone.

 

2.3. Theoretical Reinforcement:

2.3.1. Social Network Theory (SNT): Theorieënoverzicht TCW (2004) said that SNT attempts to clarify the influential aspects of social relationships arrangement on the actions and faith of an individual, group or organization. SNT is a part of social science which in a broad sense not only communicates with any particular section of people or business but with the entire nation (Ethier, 2004). With the expression ‘network’ we indicate a set of substances or nodes which have interrelated relationship that can be figured out. At this instant, in the concept of social networks, a person, or group of people are the substances. There are two diverse fundamentals comprising social network namely ties and nodes either offline or online. Now the nodes are the people or group of people of a business and ties are the interaction between them.

 

2.3.2. Viral Marketing: With the help of social networking viral marketing and viral advertising has currently becoming simplier than earlier period of time. Viral advertising and viral marketing have appeared as the best advertising policy through social network marketing which eventually boosts goods and brand name consciousness (Anderson, 2008). Viral advertising made the marketing promotion more impactful in case of raising awareness and spreading through the internet, which eventually makes the business profiatble (Williamson, 2009). The most useful benefit of viral advertising is to widen the significance quicker, exponentially and to numerous people without the help of any conventional intermediary promoter (Rahman, 2009).

 

2.3.3. Facebook Marketing Strategy: The enormity of Facebook advertising and marketing approach is mainly unidentified by the advertisers, which are essentially viral in several ways (Singh, 2009). News Feed is the basis of information from which Facebook assist the marketers to be acquainted with the possible consumers (Anderson, 2008). According to Grifantini and Urstadt (2008) Facebook invented ‘Social Ads’ to let the marketers widen the brand memo virtually, which mixes the social activities through the Facebook friends with a marketer message. Moreover Facebook helps to divide the consumer and aim at the precise demographic customers. Furthermore Facebook permits the business to create an individual web page and market their goods and business by creating virtual community.

 

2.3.2. Frameworks to Realize Consumer Behaviour: usually, marketing researchers hired theories, concepts and models from numerous sectors to carry out research on customer behaviour. According to Anderson (2008) this study will use 3 frameworks; Wheel of Consumer Analysis, the AIDA model, and the Hierarchy of communications effects; on order to be familiar with the aspects that persuades customer behaviour and the manners customer reaction towards the marketing activities commenced by Facebook.

 

Consumer Behaviour: since Olson and Peter (2005) argued that customer behaviour is the learning of ‘what’, ‘how’, ‘where’, and ‘what’ this study of customer behaviour is possibly the most significant subject. It is the learning of feelings, experience, thoughts, and action of individuals to consume the goods and service (Olson and peter). Evans et al. (2009) the learning also appreciate how customers manipulates their colleague, friends and relative surroundings. In addition the writer stated that the atmosphere of the customer behaviour is variable and transform its attitude, nature, and target customers.

 

• AIDA Model: Anderson (2008) stated that marketers think this AIDA model as an instruction for corresponding with consumers. For this specific marketing model, an easy description is given on the behaviour of consumers prior to being alert of a goods or service to make the buying decision. According to Singh (2008) the explanation of AIDA is: Attention → Interest → Desire → Action. There is an easy hypothesis that when consumers will experience the need for the product and have sufficient knowledge regarding the product then that sense will guide them towards purchase decision at present, to finish this entire procedure there should have a harmonization between marketing and customer behaviour.

 

• Wheel of Consumer Analysis Model: The WCA (Wheel of Consumer Analysis) is a consumer actions model (Olson and Peter, 2005) which is essentially useful for the advertisers to analyze the behavioural nature of a customer. It may assist advertisers to provide polices to safeguard existing goods and services in case of online customers.

 

• Communications effects Model Hierarchy: Evans et al. (2009) suggested that in this representation, there are 7 successive effect factors of a customer to advertise for example exposure, attitude, attention, perception, post-purchase, learning, and action.

5. References:

Anderson, S. (2008) “Using Social Networks to Market”, Agency Marketing Technology. February 151(2), pp.114-115.

 

Ante, S. E. and Holahan, C. (2008) Generation MySpace Is Getting Fed Up. [Online]. Business Week, February 7. Available at: http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/08_07/b4071054390809_page_2.htm, Accessed On: 2 May 2015.

Bandyopadhyay, S. (2001) Competitive strategies for internet marketers in emerging markets. Competitiveness Review 11(2), 16–25.

Bryman, A. and Bell, E. (2007) Business Research Methods. Second edition. Bath: Oxford University Press.

 

Chin, A. (2008) Using Social Netwoks to Market, [Online], EnzineArticles.com., Available at: http://ezinearticles.com/?Using-Social-Networks-To-Market&id=1167290, Accessed on: 2 May 2015.

 

Ethier, J. (2004) Current Research in Social Network Theory. . [Online]. Available at: http://lancs.ac.uk/ug/wilkina4/__files/Social%20Network%20Theory.pdf, Accessed on: 2 May 2015.

 

Evans, M., Jamall, A. and Foxall, G., (2009). Consumer Behaviour. Second edition. Chichester: Jhon Wiley & Sons Ltd.

 

Gillin, P. (2008) Social networks transform marketing. B to B, 93(8), pp.10.

 

Grifantini, K. and Urstadt, B., (2008) Social Networking is not a Business, Journal of Technology Review, Cambridge, 111(4), pp.36-44

 

Miller, G. (2008) What is Social Network Theory, Available at: http://socialnetworking.lovetoknow.com/What_is_Social_Network_Theory, Accessed on: 2 May 2015

 

MySpace.com, 2009. HyperTargeting by MySpace.com, Available at: http://www.myspace.com/hypertargeting, Accessed on: 2 May 2015

 

Nielsen (2009), March report. Global Faces and Networked Places. A Nielsen report on Social networking’s new global footprint, Available at: http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/nielsen_globalfaces_mar09.pdf, Accessed on: 2 May 2015

 

O’Neill, N. (2009) The 5 phases of the Facebook Sales Funnel. [Online]. All Facebook, The unofficial Facebook resource, Available at: http://www.allfacebook.com/2009/06/facebook-sales-funnel/, Accessed on: 8 May 2015

 

Oak, P. (2008) Social network advertising options. [Online]. Econsultancy. Digital Marketers United. November 05. Available at: http://econsultancy.com/blog/2931-social-network-advertising-options, Accessed on: 2 May 2015

 

Olson, J. and Peter, J. (2005) Consumer Behaviour & Marketing Strategy. 7th Edition. New York: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.

Owyang, J. (2008) What makes a successful Marketing campaign on Social Networks?, Web Strategy by Jeremiah Owyang, Available at: http://www.web-strategist.com/blog/2008/02/19/what-makes-a-marketing-campaign-on-social-networks-successful/, Accessed on: 20 April 2015

 

Papworth, L. (2009) Social Network Marketing Campaigns. [Online]. Laurel Papworth, the business of being social. June 11^th. Available at: http://laurelpapworth.com/social-network-marketing-campaigns-features-attributes/, Accessed on: 20 April 2015

 

Papworth, L. (2009) Social Network Marketing Campaigns: Features Attributes, Laurel Papworth the business of being social website, June 06. Available at: http://laurelpapworth.com/social-network-marketing-campaigns-features-attributes/, Accessed on: 2 May 2015

 

Rahman, S. (2009) Using Social Networks as an Important Marketing Tool, Enzine Articles. (Updated 2009). Available at: http://ezinearticles.com/?Using-Social-Networks-as-an-Important-Marketing-Tool&id=1132778, Accessed on: 4 May 2015

 

Saunders, M., Lewis, P. and Thornhill, A. (2007) Research Methods for Business Students (4th ed.), Pearson Education: Essex.

 

Singh, S. (008) Anti-Social networking: Learning the arm of making enemies in the web 2.0. Journal of internet law. Asphen Publishers Inc, 12(6), pp.3-11.

Statista (2015), Number of monthly active Facebook users worldwide as of 1st quarter 2015 (in millions), Available at: http://www.statista.com/statistics/264810/number-of-monthly-active-facebook-users-worldwide/, Accessed on: 10 April 2015

Sullivan, K. and Gilbert, D., 2004. Research Method and Statistics. Pearson Custom Publishing.

 

The S.W.I.S.S Money Blog (2009) Facebook advertising: 5 Pros and 4 Cons for Small Business. [Online] Entrepreneurship, Online Marketing and Making S.W.I.S.S. (Sales While I Sleep Soundly) Money, March 9. Available at: http://swissmoneyblog.com/2009/03/09/facebook-advertising-worth-small-business/, Accessed on: 10 April 2015

 

Theorieënoverzicht TCW (2004) Network Theory and Analysis. [Online]. Available at: http://www.cw.utwente.nl/theorieenoverzicht/Theory%20clusters/Communication%20and%20Information%20Technology/Network%20Theory%20and%20analysis_also_within_organizations.doc/, Accessed on: 10 April 2015

 

Webber, L., 2009. Marketing to the Social Web. How digital customer communities build your business. Second edition. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Williamson, D. A. (2006) Social Network Marketing:
Carving Out Some MySpace, Available at: http://www.emarketer.com/Reports/All/Social_network_aug06.aspx, Accessed on: 10 April 2015

 

 

 

 

 

Title: Classifying International Tourists with Sustainable Behaviours: A Study on Sustainable Tourism in Saudi Arabia

 

Literature Review

1. Introduction:

The concept of sustainability has been explained, implemented and interpreted in various ways by social groups, stakeholders and individuals. According to Lu and Nepal (2009), sustainability can be referred as balanced or wise use of resources. According to UNWTO (2014), sustainable tourism is that sort of tourism which considers its present and future social, environmental and economic impacts, considering the demands of the visitors, industry, and environment and host communities. Thus, if the term sustainable is accompanied with tourism, it must take into account social, economic and environmental aspects which are associated with the term sustainability as shown in figure 1,

Figure 1: Principles of sustainable tourism (White et al. 2006)

 

2. Sustainable Tourism:

In order to achieve sustainability, a balancing act between environment and tourism must be ensured as shown in figure 2 (Hunter, 1997). Figure 2 implies that no single characteristics should be permitted for controlling tourism during decision and policy making.

 

Figure 2: Feature of sustainable tourism at destination areas (White et al. 2006)

 

The ideas of sustainability along with its derivatives such as sustainable development are very much associated with management of natural factors especially in protected fields. The human being is linked culturally, economically with those natural factors. The objective of sustainability conveys various meanings such as;   intergenerational and intergenerational equity, redistribution of income, maintenance of life options, maintenance of ecosystems, redistribution of power and maintenance of resilient human-natural systems. For each of the meaning individual types of action needed. According to Dryzek (1987), a system of ecological rational where ecosystem function and process are maintained and is elementary to the notion of sustainability as without essential ecological function, human existence is impossible.

 

3. Sustainable Behaviour of Tourists:

Clawson and Knetsch (1966) have stated that tourist behaviour is totally different from consumer behaviour. The behaviour of any tourist is formed at five stages: having a recall phase and extended recollection, forming a return travel element, having an on-site experience, travelling to site and an anticipation or pre-purchase. According to Pearce (2011) tourist behaviour is regarded as observable actions in addition to both reflective and ongoing but not as much as psychological reaction to all extent. To measure sustainable development, Dinan and Sargeant (2000) have introduced a meaning of sustainable tourist. Dinan and Sargeant (2000) argues that sustainable tourist can be told to those tourists who are

 

 

• Concur with a common code of conduct and they decide that how should they behave as visitors.
• Appreciate that their actions influence the environment and manage their performances accordingly.
• Interested in contributing to the economy and they are also eager to buy local items such as crafts and foods.

 

According to Horne (1992) stated the development of tourist contribution in comparison to a new kind of intelligent tourist. The intelligent tourists are those tourists who appreciate the culture and history of certain place that they have visited. In the same context, going with similar sustainable tourism study, Swarbrooke (1999) has introduced the elementary roles and responsibilities of tourist. The additional roles of tourist have also been shown in Figure 3.

 

Figure 3: Tourist’s Roles and responsibilities (Pearce, 2005)

 

Fennel ad Malloy (1998) and Mason and Mowforth (1996) assured that the valuation of Swarbrooke (1996) is corresponding to the object of desirable behaviour of tourist which has been found in code of conduct introduced by committed organizations and various tourist bodies within stern specification for conduct of roles and desirable roles.   First of all, it has already been clear from substantiation based aspects that all those expected behaviour will produce sustainable outcome. Secondly, Pearce (2005) argues that it is quite difficult to ensure effective judgement from these sorts of roles. According to Pearce (2005),   the behaviour of tourist can be influenced b social roles where roles are not clear in some extent. Some roles might insist physical modifications when individual moves across experiences. Thus, Pearce (2005) stated that tourist group can also facilitate the roles of tourist and it can also influence the behaviour of tourist too. Moreover, Pearce (2005) has discarded religious tourists. The researcher has showed that the improvement of international tourism in Middle East has been entrenched in usual strategy of diversification of post-oil economies and economic re-development (Al-Hamarneh and Stephenson, 2013). Especially in case of Saudi Arabia that entertains an exclusive form of tourism displays gigantic socio cultural impact upon urban development and its local communities. Therefore, religious tourist must be inserted within product list

 

Figure 4: Tourist groupings based on individual variables (Pearce, 2005)

 

According to Powell and Ham (2008), the participation of visitors in ecotourism has very insignificant impact over the conversation and attitude of visitors. Moreover, the intentions and attitude of visitors are linked with pro conversations behaviours which might be influenced by the manners by which the information about the environment is communicated (Priskin and Manaktola, 2013). Some studies have showed that the attitude of tourist might be affected by tourism business who practice tourism business for instance; performance of lodging industry (Jauhar and Manaktola, 2007). According to Lee (2010), behavioural context is a significant factor that explains the behaviour of individual since strong intention might bring performance.

 

There are a limited number of literatures in this regard. After analysis of Dolnicar (2006) on environmentally-friendly tourists it has been ascertained that the outputs of the previous studies were indecisive. So, it seems tough to define the features of environmentally-friendly tourists. Regional identity, income, moral obligations and age might act as the forecasters of pre-environmental attitudes (Dolnicar, 2010). Some relevant studies have assessed the attitudes of tourists regarding sustainability without mentioning any direct references. According to McKercher et al. (2008), a study on tourists’ behaviours at Ayers Rock in Central Australia found that, a great number of visitors faced challenges in the host community. According to the study, some visitors showed reluctance towards the local values and customs whether some visitors perceived that they can adapt themselves with the local customs and values as they are simply tourists. This study infers that, to challenge the local customs and values might create an antagonistic attitude amid the local people towards tourism.

 

The well-being of the local people significantly depends on the behaviours of tourists who intend spend their holidays over there (Budeanu, 2007). Normally international tourists intend to apply their as usual leisure behavioural patterns in the foreign countries. As a result, sometimes these kinds of tendency of international tourists create conflicts and tensions with the local people. Therefore, a hostile attitude is developed amid the local community regarding tourism. Another study of Shamsub (2010) also discerns that, the local people of Thailand think that it is inapposite whenever tourists kiss in public and walk bear-chest in the streets. They also think that their local teenagers will replicate those behaviours. From the viewpoint of environmental aspect, eco-tourists lightly affect the environment (Boyd, 1996). Eco-tourisms create less impact on visitors’ behavioural pattern, conservatism and cognition (Powell and Ham, 2008).

 

From the aspect of direct spending, independent tourists spend ten percent higher than the tourists who come in a group (Laesser and Crouch, 2006). In developing countries, tourism faces a number of impediments such as enclave and leakage tourism regarding attaining economic sustainability. The income of destination country is lessened due to the imports of products and services to meet the desire of foreign tourists. In the same way, enclave tourism appears whenever tourists stay, eat and use other services which are inclusive in the package, offered by the big tourism agencies which remain in the same supply chain. The degree of income leakage changes from country to country. In this regard Budeanu (2007) stated that income leakage goes up to 50% for the developed countries whereas it ranges from 10% to 20% for the advanced countries.

 

Some educational programmes have been offered by Marion and Reid (2007). These are environmental guidelines, code of conduct and leaving no traces. These programmes will motivate the tourists to adopt low-impact behaviours. To influence the behavioural pattern of tourists, creation of green hotel image has been suggested by Lee et al. (2010). Well prepared messages should be dispatched during the ecotourism (Powell and Ham, 2008). It will boost the behavioural patterns of the tourists that could sustain the conservations.

 

4. Sustainable Tourism: Impact on Environment and Community:

Richards and Hall (2003) argued that, since the arrival of significance of tourism industry around the world, sustainable development of tourism has become more vital aspect. By arranging benefits for foreign tourists at local community and conservation, the Saudi Tourism Authority formed some policies to develop sustainable tourism such as the National Ecotourism Action Plan 2002 – 2006 (NESDB, 2005) and the National Ecotourism Policy (NESDB, 2005). Plenty of natural resources and distinctive cultural resources of Saudi Arabia can augment the potentiality of eco tourism. Sriphnomya (2000) stated that, ecotourism in the countries plans to form sustainable industry that brings a natural, healthy and social environment. It also makes the local people self dependent. Ecotourism aspects have been elucidated by the policy. It delivers guidelines for many individuals and organizations to carry out ecotourism activities. The stakeholders of ecotourism are local people, government agencies, private sectors and NGOs.

 

Some severe problems have been created by the fast growing tourism industry in Saudi Arabia. These are uneven income allocation, natural exploitation and waste management problem. Thus the issue of sustainable tourism development arises.

 

Sriphnomya (2002) stated that maximum countries face impediments to implement ecotourism within the territory due to the low standard of ecotourism services. Lacking of standards can be found amid the industries in Ecotourism. So, it requires more guidelines from the related agencies. According to the study of Drukier (2001) it has been ascertained that, there are many ecotourism operators in Saudi Arabia which do not comply the principles of ecotourism. Even they do not know the inner meaning of ecotourism. They just use the name. On the other hand, public sector also possesses lacking. Drukier (2001) described that, without dispatching any special licenses towards tour operator and without receiving any responsibilities, tourism authority makes the people aware about tourism.

 

In 1983, “community-based ecotourism (CBET) appeared due to the prior mentioned criticisms in ecotourism. Whenever a community manages tourism with possessing ecotourism principles then it is called “community-based ecotourism” (CBET). Ecotourism means a sustainable tourism and its management remains under the control of local people. Sproule (1998) stated that, CBET means a community that utilizes the natural resources and operates the tourism business with a view earning profit and maintain a standard life. Drum et al. (2004) said that, CBET engages the local people and protects the natural resources in a sustainable way. According to Ashley and Garland (1994), community-based tourism development means sustainable usages of the resources to unearth the social and economical benefits to local people.

 

5. Tourism in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

After energy and manufacturing sectors, tourism is perceived as the 3^rd largest industry in the Saudi Arabia (Sadi and Henderson, 2005). Recently, it is considered as the 2^nd most noteworthy sector that produces the most foreign exchange for the KSA. Leisure tourism is a fresh concept in the KSA which is regarded as new market segment for further progress (Johnson, 2010). On the basis of ethics and values, the first National Tourism Development Strategy was taken by SCTA (Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities) in 2002. According to MAS (2012), Islamic principles and values which are well-matched with the KSA are the contributing factors for the national economy. These should be economically, culturally, environmentally and socially sustainable and feasible. So, it can be said that, the salient aspect of the KSA’s tourism strategy is to accept the economic, social an environmental sustainability.

 

References:

 

Al-Hamarneh, A., and Stephenson, M., (2013), ‘International tourism development in the GCC countries: Opportunities and challenges’, Workshop 6, Gulf Research Centre Cambridge, Available Online: http://gulfresearchmeeting.net/workshop/29_Workshop%206%20-%20Tourism%20Development%20-%20Harmaneh%20and%20Stephenson.pdf, Accessed on: 10 April 2015

 

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Budeanu, A., (2007), ‘Sustainable Tourist Behaviour – A Discussion of Opportunities for Change’, International Journal of Consumer Studies, Vol. 31, Issue 5, pp. 499 – 508.

 

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Dolnicar, S., (2010), ‘Identifying Tourists with Smaller Environmental Footprints’, Journal of Sustainable Tourism, Vol. 18, Issue 6, pp. 717 – 734.

 

Hall, C. M., (2013), ‘Framing behavioural approaches to understanding and governing sustainable tourism consumption: beyond neoliberalism, ‘nudging’ and ‘green growth’?’ Journal of Sustainable Tourism, Vol. 21, No. 7, pp. 1091 – 1109.

 

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Hunter, C., (1997), ‘Sustainable tourism as an adaptive paradigm’, Annals of Tourism Research, Vol. 24, Issue 4, pp. 850 – 867.

 

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Manaktola, K., and Jauhar, V., (2007), ‘Exploring Consumer Attitude and Behavior towards Green Practices in the Lodging Industry in India’, International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, Vol. 19, no. 5, pp. 364 – 377.

 

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Assessment feedback sheet

 

Criteria	Distinction 70-100%	Merit 60-69%	Pass 50-59%	Fail 40-49%	Fail 0-39%
Evaluation – content and theoretical underpinning	Portfolio demonstrates originality, innovation and depth in the content and theory which is comparable to published work .	In the main the portfolio is insightful and has an appropriate selection of content and theory in key areas identified in the brief.	Key theories and ideas are included in the portfolio of work in an appropriate manner although not consistently across all tasks.	Appropriate selection of content/theory but some key aspects missed/misconstrued. Lack of theory in most tasks.	Does not address the assignment brief. Uses Inaccurate or inappropriate content/theory
Application and illustration	Portfolio consistently demonstrates application of theory/critical analysis and contests the published literature through high level of debate.	Engagement with critical perspectives and solid comparison of author’s views. Clear evidence of application and questioning of theory through critical analysis.	Portfolio is mainly descriptive but meets learning outcomes. There is some critical analysis but mainly explores the issues in general, showing knowledge and application.	A descriptive portfolio which has very little critical analysis. Lack of evidence provide to   achieve   masters level work	No critical thought/ analysis/reference to theory.
Presentation and Harvard Referencing	Mostly comparable to published literature in this subject area. Presentation standard of the portfolio is excellent; consistent with academic protocol.   Referencing clear, relevant and consistently accurate using the Harvard system	Sound academic writing in comparison to published work showing some potential. Presentation overall of good standard with few errors in grammar and syntax.   Referencing relevant and mostly accurate using the Harvard system.	Presentation has limitations including some errors in grammar and syntax Minor inconsistencies and inaccuracies in referencing using the Harvard system	Meaning apparent but language not always fluent, grammar and spelling is often inaccurate. Presentation is poor in structure and includes errors in grammar and syntax. Referencing present having many inconsistencies and inaccuracies.	Purpose and meaning of assignment unclear. Language, grammar and spelling poor. Structure and presentation is not of an acceptable standard including faulty grammar and syntax.   Referencing mainly inaccurate or absent.

 

Comments:

You have provided some interesting discussion within this assignment and it is very thorough in parts. You provide good discussion however unfortunately there is too much similarity between social network marketing and social media marketing for them to be considered two separate topics taught by the module.